"Lumos."
Hermione cast the Wand-Lighting Charm, and Harry and Ron did the same.
The three of them raised their wands, illuminating the dark classroom as they carefully inspected every corner.
However, they found nothing. The first time they had entered the room, they had managed to find a piece of straw, but now they couldn't even find a single strand of hair.
After searching in vain, the three of them had no choice but to return to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Maybe it isn't the classroom. Perhaps it's some nasty curse Malfoy learned recently. He might have secretly cast a spell on the three of them during Potions yesterday," Ron speculated.
His guess wasn't unreasonable. Since the beginning of the semester, the conflict between Harry's group and Malfoy had not diminished with time. Instead, it had escalated.
On several occasions, the two groups had nearly come to blows.
However, Harry still felt that Malfoy wasn't quite that bold. Although the antagonistic and ill-mannered Slytherin student often seemed to act without restraint, Harry knew that he was actually rather timid.
Ultimately, their investigation into the nightmares yielded no results. The three spent the morning playing Wizard's Chess in the Common Room and completed their various assignments under Hermione's supervision in the afternoon, bringing their rather uneventful Saturday to an end.
Harry and Ron went to bed early, thinking they would finally enjoy a good night's sleep.
However, at three o'clock the following morning, the two were once again startled awake by the same nightmare they had experienced the previous night!
They weren't the only ones in the five-person dormitory to wake with a start. Their three other roommates, Seamus, Neville and Dean, also sat bolt upright in their beds!
It was still the middle of the night, but Harry's dormitory had suddenly become lively.
Seamus and Ron climbed out of bed and paced restlessly around the room. Neville curled up on his bed, staring vacantly into space, while Dean looked thoroughly terrified, trembling beneath his blanket.
Harry, on the other hand, appeared thoughtful.
In that night's nightmare, he had witnessed a scene he hadn't seen the previous night.
A strange figure with a pair of scarlet eyes had appeared in the corner of his dream. It held something resembling a kerosene lamp in one hand and a sickle in the other, silently watching him.
He had also witnessed Voldemort using the Killing Curse against him, followed by Lily sacrificing herself for him all over again.
Just then, Seamus, who had been recounting his nightmare to Ron, suddenly spoke up.
"I saw something strange in my dream too! It looked like a person, but I couldn't make out its appearance. However, it had a pair of red eyes and was holding a lamp!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ron exclaimed in surprise.
"I saw it too! I thought I was the only one who'd dreamed about that thing. It definitely wasn't there last night!"
Even Dean, who was huddled beneath his blanket, and Neville, who had been staring blankly into space, spoke up to confirm that they had experienced the same dream.
The situation was becoming increasingly strange. Early the next morning, all five boys in Harry's dormitory decided to report the matter to Professor McGonagall.
Just as they reached the Common Room, they happened to encounter the three equally exhausted girls from Hermione's dormitory.
Lavender and Parvati had also experienced nightmares in which their entire families were killed by Dark Wizards. The demonic-looking figure that had appeared in Harry's dreams had appeared in theirs as well.
All eight students sensed that something was seriously wrong. Without even stopping for breakfast, they hurried off to find Professor McGonagall.
After listening to their accounts, Professor McGonagall's expression grew grave.
She was far more knowledgeable than Harry and the others and clearly understood that widespread nightmares, particularly those involving the simultaneous appearance of a mysterious figure, indicated a serious problem.
In her office, she immediately conducted a thorough examination of all eight students, but found nothing wrong with them.
She then summoned Professor Flitwick. She also wanted to call Sherlock, who had conducted extensive research into Defence Against the Dark Arts, but the portrait she sent to fetch him returned with the news that Sherlock wasn't in his office and had gone out on business.
Professor Flitwick, meanwhile, frowned as he examined the students, tapping each of them with his wand repeatedly. However, he found no evidence that they had been subjected to any malicious curses or jinxes.
The examinations continued until that evening. Since they had discovered nothing, Professor McGonagall could only reluctantly send Harry and the others back, telling them to see what happened that night.
However, that night, it wasn't just Harry's and Hermione's dormitories that were affected. Nearly every student in Gryffindor experienced almost identical nightmares!
Their families were killed, and a red-eyed figure watched them from the corner.
The following day, Monday, all the Gryffindor students arrived at their lessons sporting enormous dark circles beneath their eyes.
The situation was becoming increasingly serious. Since Dumbledore was away from the castle at the time, Professor McGonagall summoned all the Professors currently at Hogwarts to the staff room at noon.
Sherlock, who had just returned from Gringotts and was once again slowly emptying the Lestrange family vault like a diligent ant, learned about the situation at this meeting.
Hilke had only just heard the news as well. Since she had been at Hogwarts for less than two months, her tenure was still relatively short, and Professor McGonagall hadn't thought to summon her the previous day.
"This matter concerns me."
Sherlock had no intention of shirking his responsibility. As soon as he realised that the Gryffindor students were dreaming about the Fedetick straw man, he spoke up directly.
"This is a Dark creature that escaped from the Department of Mysteries in Germany. Around this time last year, Vera came to stay at Hogwarts for a while specifically to capture it. Lupin was helping me share the teaching duties at the time, so Dumbledore asked me to assist her. Now it has escaped again, and it has probably come to Hogwarts seeking revenge on me."
"This is my fault. I've implicated these students."
"I share the responsibility as well," Hilke added, accepting part of the blame.
After learning the identity of the mysterious figure, Professor McGonagall finally relaxed. Although they still didn't have a solution, knowing their enemy was far more reassuring than facing an unknown threat.
She had no intention of blaming Sherlock.
"There's no need to feel guilty. You were simply doing what you had to do. Right now, we need to figure out how to stop the students from having these nightmares. Three nights of this have already affected the entire Gryffindor student body, and if it continues tonight, there's a very real possibility that every student in the school will experience the same dreams."